Folk/world

There was a time, not so long ago, in Bulgaria that just playing their music made the members of Bulgarian Bebop eligible for three hots and a cot courtesy the state. Sax player Yuri Yunakov enjoyed that hospitality more than once for the subversive act of putting his own spin on traditional music. When he took political asylum in the U.S. in '94, Trakiya (as Bulgarian Bebop is known there) was left incomplete. But Yunakov's dream of reuniting the band has come true on the new Together Again (Traditional Crossroads) which they are currently touring to support before most members return to Bulgaria.

What did Bulgarian Bebop do that was so dangerous to the state? They played the folk tunes — the kind heard at weddings, the ones everyone would know — with liberal interpolations of jazz and rock. Carol Silverman, who earned her Ph.D. in folklore from Penn, recalls seeing the original configuration when she was collecting songs in the Balkans and the absolute frenzy their daring and originality created. The members of Trakiya were as popular as rock stars. The American student was often invited to meet the band, and a lifelong friendship developed. It was Silverman who effectively broke up the band when she helped Yunakov earn political asylum. Now she's helping them get back together, serving as interpreter and singer on the current reunion tour.

Anyone interested in the distinctive harmonies of the Balkans, where reeds — clarinet, sax, accordion — blend closely, should attend this show, but the appeal does not end there. Drummers and other rhythm freaks will be blown away by the fast changes in patterns rarely heard outside that region.

Fri., Oct. 28, 7 and 9 p.m., $30, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914, www.paintedbride.org.